15 August 2018 - Wednesday

15 August 2018 - Wednesday

By now you all know how much both mom and I enjoy our three mile walk in the mornings.  After our trek yesterday, I was still very much anticipating the morning walk, this morning, and mom came with me again today.  We left the house at 5:30am and we were surprised to see what was available in the morning lights!  It was about 48 degrees this morning and here is what we saw;

The fog was so thick that it reminded me of Fresno in the winter driving

Can you see Devil's Gate through the fog?

As we were driving from Missionary Village to the Homestead, there were a few cars on the highway.  However, they were all still going the 70 mph speed limit, and very few had headlights on!  Fortunately they were all going in the opposite direction, and we made it safely to the Homestead.  Visibility was not more than 50 yards on the main road!

Our morning correlation began at 8:30am, this morning, and we were scheduled in the Visitors' Center at 9:00am.  Our shift began at 9:00am and ended at 2:00pm.  It was a very slow day for visitors here, so the shift went by very slowly!  We had fewer than 25 visitors before noon today, and we had 4 couples assigned to the Visitors' Center by noon.  It was a good day to visit with the other missionaries!  And the sun finally broke through the fog, and we had sunshine from around 10:00am on.  The sun felt pretty good this morning!

After our shift at the Visitors' Center, we had an interview with the mission president and his wife.  The interview was mostly about what the mission president's plans were after their release in January.  They just sold their house in Utah, this past week, and are building a house with one of their children starting in September!  And the floor plan for their part of the house is almost exactly what I drew up for the addition on Ali and Jared's house!  It got me, and mom, in the mood to build a new house, on a very large tract of land, for all of our families!  That would be an awesome dream come true!

Also, in the interview, we were able to get a copy of the music, "Hallowed Ground", for Mary.  I can't wait to hear her play it, and then to see our piano playing grandchildren to play it!  Grandpa is still thinking about taking piano lessons when we get home.  That dream is still alive and well in my mind to be able to play the piano in this lifetime!  We also arranged for a Rover for our trek with the Lasher Family tomorrow!  We are so excited for their upcoming visit!

Mom and I had dinner with two other senior missionary couples tonight.  They are both in our district, and we had soup and salad, and a wonderful time together.  They even scheduled dinner around mom's bedtime!  The Reese's' and the Gillilands are fun to be around.  We had some great conversations about this mission experience for each of us.  We also discussed our next assignment to conduct Family Home Evening for the mission.  It will be on Monday, September 3rd!  It will be a birthday party FHE, and we will celebrate those birthdays of the missionaries who won't be here for their special day.  

The time is winding down, and the first missionaries to leave will begin September 3rd.  Several will be leaving the third week in September, and then another group, that were in the MTC with us, will be leaving, with us, on October 16th.  The final group of two missionary couples will be leaving in November unless an early snow is forecasted!  It has been a great experience!